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Do You Get Enraged When Someone Does Not Take Off Their Hat Poll

(hopefully a harmless distraction from the more serious stuff – so if you are always serious don’t read any further)

I had a student who wore a baseball cap to all my classes. At first I had an emotional response – who does this guy think he is wearing a baseball cap in my class. Then I got used to it and realized – it does not matter if he wears a cap or not. As long as he does the work and acts civilly in class - who cares?

Next thing you know I was a convert. So much so that I wore a hat and got tossed out of a dinner party. My experience is that most people ignore you when you do not remove your hat at a hockey game when the national anthem is being played. But, a few get downright venomous.

Is there some evolutionary advantage of requiring a hat to be removed at certain times or in some venues?

After visiting Hair Club for Men a few years ago and realizing it was way too expensive to buy a new wig every few months and getting locked into an expensive styling plan even more frequently, I decided to go with the immensely cheaper option of wearing stylish hats for my bald spot.

Nobody expects someone to remove their wig when the national anthem is being played – so why should they have to remove their hat which is being used for the same purpose. Removal of a hat for the anthem can be done by the most morally depraved person who has no respect at all for his countries laws. What is wrong with me substituting hat removal with my hand over my heart instead?

What is wrong with me wearing my hat at dinner?

I suspect the majority of people get enraged with people not removing their hat. I am curious as to what a group of freethinkers will say.

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Permalink Reply by FreeThinker on May 11, 2012 at 5:18pm

To me, taking your hat off when indoors or during the national anthem is one of those silly customs like saying "bless you" or "gesundheit" when someone sneezes. And like saying "bless you" when someone sneezes, I'm sure taking your hat off as a sign of respect is somehow tied to religion. I know that up until the late 1800s/early 1900s, women were generally supposed to keep their heads covered when out in public and especially in church. Men, on the other hand, were supposed to take their hats off in church.

Here's a clip of George Carlin talking about hats and religion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iw0MripVxss

The part about hats starts at 4:55, but the whole video is worth watching.

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Permalink Reply by Alex Barnham on May 11, 2012 at 8:19pm

No problem...when I sneeze, my hat usually goes flying...and someone invariably says, "Hah, I knew it, you're a nigger". And I always come back with, "nah, I'm a rock star".

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Permalink Reply by Michael Brice on May 11, 2012 at 8:54pm

As long as it is not an 'asshat' I am ok with leaving it on............

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Permalink Reply by Russell Pangborn on May 14, 2012 at 1:30pm

I had to look that one up. New expression for me - but the picture explained it perfectly.

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Permalink Reply by Goz on May 15, 2012 at 3:28pm

Wear the hat..I do.

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Permalink Reply by Alex Barnham on May 15, 2012 at 5:40pm

Men used to wear tall hats to keep the hyenas away...we've killed all the hyenas so...no need.

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Permalink Reply by Russell Pangborn on August 30, 2012 at 2:03pm

It was my first day back at work after a year sabbatical. I wore my hat at all the meetings and expected to hear a few disparaging remarks or get a few odd looks since I was the only one in a hundred people at a departmental meeting to be sporting headgear.

Not sure how the chairs, deans or college president viewed it but one admin lady said she liked my hat. Maybe I will go a whole semester with my cheaper version of a wig.